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Hackers target CIA, Mexican, Alabama websites

Websites affiliated with the CIA, Mexico's mining ministry and the state of Alabama were down Friday, allegedly done in by hackers, government officials and a well-known hacking group reported. A message Friday on a Twitter page and Tumblr feed affiliated with the hacking group known as Anonymous celebrated that the Central Intelligence Agency's website had been taken down. The posting read: "CIA TANGO DOWN: https://www.cia.gov/ #Anonymous." A later one pointed to a news story indicating "#Anonymous hackers hit CIA, U.N., Mexico websites." Numerous outside reports indicated the CIA's website was down, and CNN's attempts from late Friday afternoon into the evening to get onto the site failed. Asked about the outage, CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood said Friday night, "We are aware of the problems accessing our website, and are working to resolve them." Additionally, information was "compromised" in a hacking of Alabama state websites, the Alabama Department of Homeland Security said in a news release. "We are aware of the current situation regarding individual(s) claiming responsibility for hacking into a state of Alabama ... public website," Alabama Department of Homeland Security Director Spencer Collier said in the release. Jack Doane, director of Alabama's Information Services Division, told CNN later by e-mail that state technology experts "are conducting a forensic analysis to determine what if any information has been compromised." It was not immediately clear what websites were hacked or who was responsible. A web page that included Anonymous' signature tag line stated the hacking was in response to Alabama's "recent racist legislation in an attempt to punish immigrants as criminals" -- referring to legislation, signed last June, aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration in the state. The Anonymous-related Twitter page also provided links to documents, messages and other files that it said it had taken off a website tied to Mexico's mining ministry. "Hello Mexican Chamber of Mines," a related Twitter post read. "Want to see your emails exposed?" That said, another later item on the same feed added, "We'd remind media that if we report a hack or ddos (distributed denial of service) attack, it doesn't necessarily mean we did it...FYI." The Mexican mining ministry's website -- which is distinct from the Chamber of Mines, or Caminex, a trade association -- appeared to be down early Friday evening.

Published: Sat, 11 Feb 2012 02:28:43 GMT

Madonna stalker caught after escaping from mental hospital

A man convicted of stalking singer Madonna, and who once threatened to knife her, was arrested Friday, a week after he escaped from a Southern California mental hospital, police said. Robert Dewey Hoskins, 54, had walked away from Metropolitan State Hospital in the Los Angeles suburb of Norwalk on February 3, police said. He had served a 10-year prison sentence for stalking the "Material Girl," police said, and a court order requires him to be in a facility receiving mental health treatment until the end of August 2012. Los Angeles Police Sgt. Mitzi Fierro told HLN's Nancy Grace that she hadn't been told whether any new charges will be filed against Hoskins. "At this point they are returning him to the facility, and I believe that will be determined by the detectives who will investigate -- number one, his ability to walk away from the facility and, number two, if he violated anything from that point on," Fierro said. The facility he was in is not secured, and it was unclear Friday whether Hoskins escaped or walked out on his own, investigators told CNN. He was receiving treatment to get acclimated to society again and was supervised by a civilian staff and not officers, detectives said. Because of the court order, Hoskins was deemed an "escapee," detectives said. Investigators had been looking for him in the Long Beach area because some of his arrest records come from that community, detectives said. Prior to his arrest Friday, Los Angeles police issued a warning to the public saying Hoskins "is highly psychotic when not taking his medication and has very violent tendencies." Hoskins may have taken a bus to the Long Beach area, police said. He stalked Madonna all over California in the early 1990s, CNN affiliate KCAL reported. He threatened to cut her from "ear to ear" if she did not marry him, the affiliate reported. He was arrested in 1995. The following year at his trial, Madonna -- born Madonna Louise Ciccone -- testified that Hoskins repeatedly scaled the fence of her home and made her have nightmares, the affiliate reported. Fresh off her Super Bowl halftime performance, Madonna is set for a world tour to be launched in Tel Aviv, Israel, on May 29. The European portion of the tour will have 26 shows, including stops in London, Paris, Milan and Berlin. The North American portion of her worldwide extravaganza also includes 26 cities, with the first stop in Philadelphia on August 28.

Published: Sat, 11 Feb 2012 02:01:36 GMT

Cruise industry adopts new safety policy

Cruise lines are now required to conduct passenger safety drills before leaving port, under a rule announced by three cruise industry associations. The new policy is the first to come out of an internal cruise industry review announced last month in response to the Costa Concordia disaster. At least 16 people died and 16 are still missing following the ship's January 13 collision with rocks close to the shore of the Italian island of Giglio. Holding muster drills before leaving port goes beyond the existing legal requirement that passengers participate in the safety drills within 24 hours of embarking. "There are various means of delivering passenger safety instructions and abandon ship instructions, but we believe ... the existing international requirement that we provide this instruction within 24 hours can be bettered by doing it immediately upon (passenger) boarding," said Michael Crye, executive vice president of Cruise Lines International Association. CLIA -- the largest cruise industry organization in North America, according to its website -- the European Cruise Council and the UK-based Passenger Shipping Association all have adopted the new policy, effective immediately. Passengers who arrive after drills are held will receive prompt individual or group safety briefings. About 600 of more than 3,000 Corcordia passengers had not participated in the muster drill because they got on the ship within hours of the accident. "The official investigation will make a determination as to whether this briefing would have been helpful in that regard," Crye said. The organizations will consider the findings of the official Concordia investigation when they are released and make further recommendations based on those details, Crye said.

Published: Sat, 11 Feb 2012 01:22:21 GMT

Candidates look to woo CPAC conservatives

Newt Gingrich sought to hammer home the idea that he's the anti-establishment candidate Friday, rehashing familiar themes from his stump speeches before his audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "For the Republican establishment, managing the decay is preferable to changing the trajectory because changing the trajectory requires real fights and a real willingness to roll up sleeves and actually take on the left," Gingrich said. Pointing to the 1996 and 2008 election years, the former House speaker forcefully argued the Republican establishment can't win a presidential election. "They don't have the toughness, they don't have the commitment, and they don't have the philosophy necessary to grow a majority in this country," he said. He boasted his conservative bona fides following a speech on the same stage Friday by opponent Rick Santorum, who charged ahead of Gingrich in the GOP horse race this week with three big wins in the Republican nominating process, followed by a major fundraising boost and surging poll numbers. Mitt Romney, a candidate criticized by the far right as being the establishment's choice in the GOP presidential field, also spoke before Gingrich Friday. But Gingrich made no attempt to attack his opponents, focusing instead on outlining his platform and striking a chord with his CPAC audience, a crowd known for its strongly conservative turnout. Tapping into the recent fervor against a federal rule requiring religious affiliated employers to include contraception coverage--a policy the White House announced Friday it would retract--Gingrich used his moment on stage to charge the president with dividing the country. "This administration is waging war on religion. But so are the courts. This is why we need a movement that's bigger than just beating Obama," he said. Gingrich won big cheers when he called for the repeal of President Obama's sweeping health care reform, as well as the financial reform bill signed in 2010. The former speaker also presented his energy plans and economic ideas, part of which call for an end to the estate tax and a 12.5% corporate tax rate. And while he laid out nearly his entire platform in the almost half-hour speech, Gingrich refrained from touching on his space plans, policies he has frequently touted in recent weeks. "My goal, with your help, is that by the time President Obama lands in Chicago, we will have repudiated at least 40 percent of his government on the opening day," Gingrich said. During his speech, Santorum made one thing clear: he's not running for vice president. The insurgent GOP contender and his entourage stormed into CPAC ready to rumble. His haymaker of the day was aimed at the former Massachusetts governor's health care plan. "Who has supported in fact the step-child of 'Obamacare,' the person in Massachusetts who built the largest government-run healthcare system in the United States," Santorum asked the crowd. Santorum defended the comment in a brief interview with CNN at CPAC. "Look, it's Obamacare at the state level. And he still continues to advocate for it. It is a top-down government controlled approach to solving the health care problem," Santorum told CNN. The former Pennsylvania senator had a tough act to follow. Foster Friess, the multi-millionaire mutual fund manager, warmed up the crowd with a joke at Romney's expense. Not everybody enjoyed the punch line. "There is a little bar a couple doors down and recently a conservative, a liberal and moderate walked into a bar and the bartender says, 'Hi, Mitt,'" Friess quipped. Santorum staffers shook their heads and smiled at the wise-crack. Friess, one aide told CNN, is not scripted. That may explain Freiss's reaction to CNN when asked about Romney's unrelenting assaults on Santorum's record backing earmarks in Congress. "I think Rick's in the recovery program," Friess quipped to CNN. Santorum's top surrogate joked the program has 12 steps. "Well he's pretty well through the 12th because he's realized the abuses that earmarks had." Team Santorum was milking its new momentum, escorting the former Pennsylvania senator from one interview to the next with a steady stream of bloggers, reporters and radio talk show hosts. Down in the bowels of the CPAC conference, his campaign booth featured a life-size cardboard cut-out of Santorum for conservatives who failed to grab a quick grip and grin with the GOP contender. Also at the booth, Santorum sweater vests were selling like... well better than sweater vests. So far, 80 vests had been sold at $100 a pop, the campaign told CNN. Santorum's sons and a few of their friends were all wearing sweater vests of their own, leading one journalist to dub the crew: "the vestie boys." Santorum was trying his best to not let it all go to his head. Asked whether the race is turning his way, he offered a quip of his own. "If you don't like the state of the race, just wait a couple of weeks," Santorum told CNN. Earlier, Romney aggressively defended his conservative credentials. Addressing the group, Romney described his record in Massachusetts in almost startling terms, calling himself "a severely conservative Republican governor" who stood firmly with social conservatives in the fight against same-sex marriage and abortion. Romney said that as governor, he fiercely opposed same-sex marriage, fought for abstinence education in public schools and vetoed a bill that would have made it easier for women to obtain abortions. His remarks were met with a warm reception from the CPAC crowd, but not as friendly as the applause that greeted Santorum just hours earlier. Though he walked the crowd through his record in Massachusetts, he made no mention of the health care reform law that he signed in 2006, which later became a model for the federal health care law that he is now promising to repeal. Romney largely framed his conservatism in comfortable terms, through the prism of his stable family life and experience in the private sector. "My path to conservatism came from my family, my faith, and my life's work," Romney said. "My 42-year marriage to my wife, Ann, the life we've built with our five sons, and the faith that sustains us - these conservative constants have shaped my life." He won a standing ovation for defending his successful business record, which has come under attack from his Republican rivals at various points in the presidential race. "I started new businesses and turned around broken ones, and I am not ashamed to say that I was very successful at it," he said. "I know conservatism because I have lived conservatism." He referred to his GOP opponents in only the vaguest terms, questioning how the beltway veterans like Santorum or Newt Gingrich could enact "serious change and real reform" in Washington. CNN's Matt Hoye and Sarah Baker contributed to this report.

Published: Sat, 11 Feb 2012 01:11:27 GMT

Obama budget: $901 billion deficit in 2013

President Barack Obama will propose a budget on Monday that forecasts a $901 billion deficit in 2013, and includes plans to make targeted investments in areas like infrastructure while hiking taxes on the rich. The White House bills the document as a "blueprint for how we can rebuild an economy where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded." But given the intense acrimony in Washington, especially on budget issues, few provisions in the document are likely to ever become law. The budget will project that the deficit for fiscal year 2012 will top $1.3 trillion, before falling in 2013 to $901 billion, or 5.5% of gross domestic product. By 2022, the deficit is forecast to fall to $704 billion, or 2.8% of GDP, according to the White House. Senior administration officials discussed details of the budget with reporters on Friday night. The full budget will be released Monday morning. The administration officials said the budget is very much a continuation of two previous Obama keystones. This first is a speech delivered last year in Kansas where he presented Americans with a choice: a "fair shot" with him, or a return to "you're on your own economics." The second is last month's State of the Union address, which focused on the broad themes of income inequality. The 2013 budget is somewhat limited in scope because the White House had to fit spending on discretionary accounts below the limits set in the Budget Control Act approved by Congress last summer. Over a decade, the cuts enshrined in the Budget Control Act total in the neighborhood of $1 trillion in discretionary spending. That means it's no easy feat to find room for additional spending on infrastructure, research and development and education -- investments Obama says are critical. The White House said that in order to fit under the caps, it had to lower spending in certain areas. To that end, discretionary spending is projected to fall from 8.7% of GDP in 2011 to 5.0% in 2022. The details on specific program cuts were not immediately available. A few areas of reduction are known: Military spending will be reduced. The Pentagon plans to spend $487 billion less over ten years, a course that Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has already laid out in some detail. For example, Panetta has said the Army will save money by pulling two of its four brigades out of permanent bases in Europe to bases in the United States. And the Navy will be getting rid of older ships that don't have the latest ballistic missile defense. Of course, the budget doesn't just cut spending -- it also raises taxes. The White House included $1.5 trillion in tax hikes, including a provision that will allow the Bush tax cuts to expire for high-income earners, a long-held Obama position. The budget also incorporates the Buffett Rule, a guideline to ensure that the wealthiest do not pay a lower overall tax rate than those who earn substantially less money. Specifically, no household making more than $1 million will be a allowed to pay less than 30% of its income in taxes. In addition, the White House wants to reform the individual tax code in a way that "eliminates inefficient and unfair tax breaks for millionaires while making all tax breaks at least as good for the middle class as for the wealthy." Later this month, the president will unveil a plan to reform corporate taxes, including lowering rates, administration officials said. The budget to be released Monday will include many of the job creation provisions laid out in the American Jobs Act, a piece of legislation Obama delivered last year with great fanfare but was almost totally ignored by Congress. The administration is also proposing a series of investments focused on infrastructure, education and domestic manufacturing, including old favorites like $30 billion to modernize schools and an additional $30 billion to retain and hire teachers and first responders. The budget will also offer details on what the White House calls a Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee. The tax will raise $61 billion over 10 years from large financial institutions to help offset the cost of the TARP bailout and Obama's mortgage refinance programs. The release of Obama's budget comes just as both political parties are ramping up efforts to fundraise and compete in both the presidential contest and crucial down-ballot races that will shape the next Congress. That spells dysfunction on Capitol Hill. Congressional Republicans have displayed no willingness to consider most of the president's proposals and are not likely to start now.

Published: Sat, 11 Feb 2012 01:10:58 GMT

Cape Cod dolphin death toll reaches 103

The number of unexplained dolphin deaths on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, rose Friday, with rescuers tallying the toll at 103. About 160 common dolphins have been found since the animals began stranding themselves in early January, said Michael Booth, a spokesman for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the organization leading the rescue the effort. The beachings have puzzled investigators, as rescue team members struggle to treat, tag and transport the living dolphins to the outer Cape Cod coast to be released. While dolphin strandings are not uncommon on the cape, Katie Moore, a marine manager for the group, said earlier this week the event is extraordinary in its "protracted" nature as well as the number of dolphins involved. "There is a large variability year to year," she said, but this event represents "more than half my annual average in a month," said Moore. Once beached, a dolphin is vulnerable to predators and susceptible to organ damage and sunburn. If a dolphin is still alive, the responders get it onto its stomach, if it is not already, for easier breathing. They keep away seagulls that would otherwise peck at it and warm it with blankets or cool it with water as necessary, Moore said. Necropsies had been performed on at least nine of the dolphins, and blood and microbial swab samples have been taken from some that were found alive, Moore said. So far, no pattern of disease or trauma has been found that would point to a cause. Although the winter and early spring are the normal time of year for dolphin strandings to occur, the weather this season has been unusually warm, leading to speculation about climate change and subsequently low "distribution of prey" as possible causes. Wellfleet harbormaster Michael Flanagan had earlier explained that usually, in the winter, "the harbor ices over and inhibits the animals from coming close to the shore. But now that the water is warmer, we're seeing lots more dolphins washing up than ever before." Moore cautioned that, while climate or other external factors such as acoustic disorientation can't be ruled out, "we don't have a single answer."

Published: Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:58:14 GMT

'Dirty Harry' weighs in on deficit

Clint Eastwood is better known for playing '"Dirty Harry" and other hyper-masculine tough guy characters than holding nuanced public policy positions. But the actor is now throwing his weight behind a plan to reduce the country's massive deficits. Eastwood said Friday he "absolutely" favors giving the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction plan a second look. What is Simpson-Bowles? It's the debt reduction plan put together by Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, who served as co-chairmen of President Obama's fiscal commission. Overall, their plan would reduce the country's accumulated debt to 40 percent of the overall economy by 2035, down from the 185 percent currently projected. To get there, the plan recommends that spending not exceed 21 percent of gross domestic product. It listed specific government programs to cut, and recommends an overhaul of the tax code. And Eastwood is a fan. "The last couple regimes have put us deep in the hole," Eastwood said during an interview on CNBC. "It's such a basic thing," Eastwood said. "Your parents always tell you when you don't have a dollar in your pocket, you don't spend two dollars. And that's kind of a basic philosophy of life." The star actor and director lay some of the blame for the plan's initial failure at the foot of the Obama administration. "I don't know why the current administration assigned them to it if they weren't going to pay any attention to it," Eastwood said. "If you're just waiting for people to tell you what you wanna hear, they can always get people to do that." The comments come just a few days after Eastwood drew quite a bit of attention for appearing in a Chrysler Super Bowl commercial that some thought was overtly political. "It's halftime," Eastwood said in the ad. "Both teams are in their locker rooms discussing what they can do to win this game in the second half." "It's halftime in America, too," continued the 81-year-old producer and director. "People are out of work, and they're hurting. And they're all wondering what they're gonna do to make a comeback." Eastwood has since said the ad was not meant to be political.

Published: Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:27:03 GMT

Giffords' anti-drug legislation signed into law

Gabrielle Giffords' final piece of legislation is now law. President Barack Obama signed the bill in the Oval Office at the White House on Friday with the former Arizona congresswoman and her husband, Mark Kelly, looking on. The the Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act of 2012 closes a loophole that treated the use of ultralight aircraft to help with drug smuggling different from the use of other aircraft. Now, their use can bring a long jail sentence and stiff fines. Ultralights weigh less than 254 pounds and have a single seat, according to FAA classifications. For years, Customs and Border Protection officers have tracked small aircraft crossing the U.S.-Mexico border to bring drugs into the United States. Between 2009 and 2011, more than 600 suspected ultralight aircraft were detected crossing the border, and nearly 400 were confirmed, according to CBP data. "It's an increasing problem," said a CBP official in Arizona not authorized to speak publicly. "This didn't use to be a problem at all," he added, but because other ways to stop drug traffickers at the border have been successful, "they have started to resort to this type of activity." Ultralights typically can carry as much as 250 pounds of drugs at one time, he said. Sometimes, traffickers drop the drugs and fly back to Mexico, while other times, they land, unload the drugs and refuel. The new law treats ultralight aircraft used in smuggling operations the same as larger planes. Penalties can now reach up to 20 years in jail and $250,000 in fines. At the bill signing, Obama praised Giffords' work. "She has spent her career fighting for the safety of the people of Arizona, and the fact that it passed unanimously shows just how much Gabby is respected by her colleagues in Congress in both parties." he said. "I'm confident that while this legislation may have been her last act as a congresswoman, it will not be her last act of public service." Giffords was shot in the head on January 8, 2011, while at a constituent meeting in her home district in Tucson, Arizona. She left Congress last month after voting for the ultralight bill. She said she wants to focus on her recovery but vowed to come back, saying in a statement, "I will return, and we will work together for Arizona and this great country."

Published: Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:04:18 GMT

Madonna on M.I.A. bird flip: It was out of place

Madge stayed mum when her co-performer, M.I.A., flipped off America during the Super Bowl, but the singer is now speaking out. In an interview with Ryan Seacrest on his radio show Friday, Madonna said she honestly had no idea M.I.A. had even done it. "I was really surprised," Madonna tells Seacrest. "I didn't know anything about it." And when she learned of M.I.A.'s middle finger brouhaha, she says she "wasn't happy about it." "I understand it's punk rock and everything, but to me there was such a feeling of love and good energy, and positivity, it seemed negative," the performer said. "It's such a teenager, irrelevant thing to do. There was such a feeling of love and unity there, what was the point? It was just out of place." A source close to M.I.A. said the artist didn't do the action intentionally, saying she was "nervous and not thinking," and that "adrenaline took over." "It wasn't meant as a gesture or statement of any kind," the source continued. "She feels horrible for putting Madonna in that position. She messed up."

Published: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:20:26 GMT

Teen pregnancy rates hit 40-year low

Fewer teens are getting pregnant now, than at any point in the last 40 years, says a new report. Researchers at the Guttmacher Institute, a sexual and reproductive health think tank, say the pregnancy rate among teens is down 42 percent, from 116.9 pregnancies per 1,000 women in 1990, to 67.8 pregnancies per 1,000 women in 2008. This means about 7 percent of young women between the ages of 15 to 19 became pregnant in the United States in 2008. "The 30-plus years of rates that we have, have been showing a very steady decline," said Kathryn Kost, a senior research associate at Guttmacher, and the lead author on the paper. "Rates now, from 2008 are at the lowest levels we ever seen since we started reporting them." Kost also says the teen birth rate -- the number of actual babies born to teenage moms - was down 35 percent as well; and the abortion rate among teens dropped almost 60 percent from its peak in 1988. "What seems pretty clear is that increasing use of contraception is preventing these kids from getting pregnant in the first place," said Kost. The report did show that racial and ethnic disparities still exist among teenagers. Pregnancy rates among African-American and Hispanic teens were two to three times higher compared to white teens. Abortion rates among Hispanic teens were also twice the rate of abortions in whites, and abortion rates among black teens were four times higher compared to white teens. "Providing contraception or at least being able to ensure that everybody has access to it may help to reduce these disparities," Kost says. The researchers believe that although the number of teens having sex is not declining significantly, awareness about contraceptives has turned the tide in the teen pregnancy numbers. "It's clear that the largest share of the decline was due contraceptive use," she said, "both an increase in use, and increase in use of the most effective methods."

Published: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:05:20 GMT

Mixed Catholic reaction to revised White House contraception plan

As word trickled out of a White House compromise with Catholic groups on its rule around contraception coverage on Friday morning, administration officials took to the phones to sell the plan to religious leaders across the spectrum. Catholic officials say President Obama called New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, to explain the revised policy, which exempts religiously affiliated universities and hospitals for paying for no cost contraception for their employees but requires insurers to offer such coverage for for free to women who work at such institutions. Dolan responded to the White House plan Friday afternoon in a statement saying the move was, "a first step in the right direction." "While there may be an openness to respond to some of our concerns, we reserve judgment on the details until we have them," he added. But other bishops were far more critical. "I think he's punting, just kicking the can down the road," Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenkis told CNN. "He's hasn't really addressed our concerns. I think the only thing to do is... to take back the whole thing." After hanging up with Obama Friday morning, Dolan quickly organized a conference call with other bishops nationwide, according to a source briefed on the calls. It's yet to be seen how the Catholic Church will greet the revised White House policy, but some conservative religious voices say they're not satisfied. Wenkis said the Miami Archdiocese pays an insurance company to cover its 5,000 employees and argued that if the insurance company is paying for and providing contraceptives, as the new compromise lays out, the church would still be paying for it. "They're missing the point when they say this is about contraception," he said. "This is about religious freedom. It's a sham to say contraception aren't widely available in this country." But some Catholic groups applauded the White House announcement. Sister Carol Keehan from the Catholic Health Association said she is"very pleased" with the White House. "Folks were extremely grateful for this," said James Salt, who heads the progressive group Catholics United, which is close to the White House. Salt was on a White House call to religious leaders Friday morning that was led by Joshua DuBios, director of Obama's Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. "This is a solution that can be universally celebrated," Salt said. " There were groups on the call that have a very pro-choice world view and there was no dissent... We're putting out a full-throated endorsement of this." Stephen Schneck, a professor from Catholic University who has advised the administration in the past, is also pleased with the new HHS policy. "There was great enthusiasm on the call, a real sense of relief," he said, referring to the conference call with DuBois. "I think [the administration] finally got it as a result of the fire storm...the religious liberty concerns, that's what turned the policy makers," he said. "The level of solidarity with the bishops in seeing this as a religious liberty issue is what I think turned the day." In recent weeks, religious leaders loudly lobbied the White House on its plan to make religious institutions offer free contraception to employees through health insurance plans. Evangelicals and conservative Jews joined with Catholics in saying the policy was an intrusion of religious liberty. "As long as the Obama portrayed this as a contraception issue they had a chance to win the pr battle," said Richard Land, head of public policy for the Southern Baptist Convention. Despite the compromise, Land said the damage has been done. "It'll be devastating with Catholics," he said, arguing that the president has "shown what he really believes." The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which brought three lawsuits in federal court against the policy, denounced the White House change Friday as an "accounting gimmick." Becket said the new compromise doesn't address the private religious groups and others who object the policy and still view the new policy as them paying for contraceptives, albeit through an insurer. "Hundreds, if not thousands, of religious institutions are still left out in the cold and will be forced to violate their religious convictions," said Hannah Smith, senior legal counsel for the Becket Fund, in a statement. An administration official said the White House will convene meetings with religious leaders in coming days and that "this policy will be developed collaboratively so that the ultimate outcome works for religious employers, their workers and the public."

Published: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:21:58 GMT

At least 11 dead after Somali migrant boat capsizes

A boat carrying Somalis fleeing violence in their homeland capsized this week in the Gulf of Aden, leaving at least 11 people dead and another 34 missing, a U.N. agency said. The vessel carrying 58 people, and captained by three smugglers, had set off from Somalia destined for Yemen last Saturday, the United Nations refugee agency said Friday in a news release. The boat's engine failed soon after. Survivors later told authorities that the smugglers then forced 22 people to jump overboard, the U.N. said. Those remaining were adrift at sea until Wednesday, when -- rocked by bad weather and rocky seas -- the boat capsized. Beginning that night on Somali beaches, locals found 13 survivors, including two adult women and a teenage boy and girl. Most suffered from skin burns caused by fuel inside the boat, the U.N. agency said. U.N. partners and local authorities transported these survivors from the Somali village of Qaw to the port city of Bossaso so they could get medical treatment. In addition, 11 bodies have washed up on beaches near the village of Ceelaayo. The U.N. says that each year, tens of thousands of Somalis and Ethiopians pay smugglers to help them flee violence in their native nations. Last year alone, more than 100,000 refugees, migrants and refugee seekers ended up in Yemen, despite the political insecurity in that Arab nation.

Published: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:56:52 GMT

Obama announces contraception compromise

President Barack Obama announced a compromise Friday in the dispute over whether to require full contraception insurance coverage for female employees at religiously affiliated institutions. Under the new plan, religiously affiliated universities and hospitals will not be forced to offer contraception coverage to their employees. Insurers will be required, however, to offer complete coverage free of charge to any women who work at such institutions. Female employees at churches themselves will have no guarantee of any contraception coverage -- a continuation of current law. There will be a one-year transition period for religious organizations after the policy formally takes effect on August 1. "No woman's health should depend on who she is or where she works or how much money she makes." Obama said at the White House. But "the principle of religious liberty" is also at stake. "As a citizen and as a Christian, I cherish this right." The president briefed New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, on the decision Friday morning. He also discussed the decision with Sister Carol Keehan of the Catholic Health Association and Cecile Richards, head of Planned Parenthood. News of the compromise came after days of escalating partisan and ideological rhetoric over the divisive issue. The White House originally wanted to require hospitals and schools with religious ties to offer full contraception coverage. Many Catholic leaders and other religious groups strongly oppose any requirement for contraception coverage on theological grounds. The question of whether institutions with religious ties should be required to offer insurance plans covering birth control and the so-called morning after pill, among other things, hits a number of political hot buttons. Liberal groups have pushed for an expansive contraception coverage requirement on grounds of gender equality in health care. Conservatives generally consider it a violation of the First Amendment and an infringement on religious liberty. Some political analysts believe the controversy could cost Obama votes in politically critical states like Pennsylvania and Ohio in November, while others insist it will ultimately hurt Republicans with suburban women. Reaction to Friday's decision fell largely along predictable party lines. Democratic leaders embraced the revised rule, while Republicans called it inadequate. "The rule announced by President Obama today guarantees that all women will have access to free contraception coverage through their employers, while protecting the religious freedom of faith-based institutions," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada. "I strongly support the rule announced today because in the year 2012, women should not be denied access to contraception. ... Whether women choose to use contraception should be their decision, not the decision of their employers or politicians in Washington." Planned Parenthood's Richards also praised the decision, arguing that "in the face of a misleading and outrageous assault on women's health," it "does not compromise a woman's ability to access these critical birth control benefits." But conservative Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, insisted the revised rule still violates the Constitution. "This ObamaCare rule still tramples on Americans' First Amendment right to freedom of religion," Jordan said in a written statement. "It's a fig leaf, not a compromise. Whether they are affiliated with a church or not, employers will still be forced to pay an insurance company for coverage that includes abortion-inducing drugs." Rep. Fred Upton, R-Michigan, said the revised rule "simply pretends to shift costs away from religious employers, but it doesn't fix the problem and is another call for individuals and institutions to compromise on principle." Upton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Friday's decision guarantees congressional action on the matter. "The Constitution does not compromise; those rights are inalienable and cannot be bartered away for political expediency and convenience," he said. "The administration has simply reaffirmed that congressional action to permanently reverse this mandate is necessary." Published polls show a slight majority of U.S. Catholics actually favored the administration's original proposed rule. Catholic leaders were divided by Friday's announcement. Dolan released a statement after Obama spoke declaring that "while there may be an openness to respond to some of our concerns, we reserve judgment on the details until we have them." But "today's decision ... is a first step in the right direction," he added. "I think (Obama's) punting, just kicking the can down the road," Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenkis told CNN. "He's hasn't really addressed our concerns. I think the only thing to do is... to take back the whole thing." Sister Keehan from the Catholic Health Association said she was "very pleased" with the White House. Sources familiar with White House thinking on the matter have said the administration is convinced approval from conservative Catholics is out of reach, and is trying to win over more progressive Catholics. Bloomberg reported Wednesday that the administration was deeply divided over how to handle the issue. Vice President Joe Biden -- who is Catholic -- and former White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley warned Obama about the possibility of negative political repercussions in swing states if the White House moved ahead with the initial rule. Several female members of the administration -- including Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius -- urged the president to move forward with the initial rule, Bloomberg said. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney denied the report, though he declined to offer any details. "A lot of these accounts are overdramatized," a senior administration official insisted Friday. On the presidential campaign trail, GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney pledged earlier to eliminate the original version of the rule on his first day in office. Both the White House and Romney's Republican opponents, however, noted a Massachusetts law in effect while Romney was governor that required hospitals -- including Catholic ones -- to provide emergency contraception to rape victims. It's ironic for Romney to criticize "the president for pursuing a policy that is virtually identical to the one that was in place when he was governor of Massachusetts," Carney said Wednesday. Romney, in turn, said Carney needs to "check his history." In 2005 then-Gov. Romney vetoed a bill that would have required all hospitals -- including Catholic hospitals -- to provide emergency contraception. The heavily Democratic state legislature overrode his veto. According to news reports at the time, Romney initially said his administration would not enforce the law at Catholic hospitals. But he later reversed course, saying all hospitals would have to supply the morning-after pill. Romney was quoted at the time as saying, "My personal view in my heart of hearts is that people who are subject to rape should have the option of having emergency contraception or emergency contraception information." "I worked very hard to get the legislature to remove all of the mandated coverages, including contraception," Romney told reporters Wednesday. This "was a provision that got there before I did, and it was one that I fought to remove." Romney's campaign released a statement from former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Mary Ann Glendon on Thursday defending Romney's past stance on the issue. "The charge that Mitt Romney has not stood tall to defend freedom of religion is preposterous," Glendon said. "He has shown backbone on every critical issue at every juncture when it counted."

Published: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:01:59 GMT

Evangelicals added weight to Catholic outcry over Obama contraception rule

The battle over who should pay for contraceptives and how has been framed in the news media as Catholics versus the Obama White House. When the administration announced religiously affiliated institutions would have a year to comply with a new policy that require them to pay for contraceptives through insurance plans, it was Catholic bishops who led the criticism, firing off angry letters to be read at Mass in parishes nationwide. That campaign appears to have worked, with the White House signaling it will announce a compromise on its rule on Friday. But in pushing the White House to change the rule, Catholics were joined by a politically formidable religious group that's OK with contraception but increasingly sensitive about what they say is a government bent on secularizing the public square: evangelical Christians. "I'm not a Catholic," California megachurch pastor Rick Warren wrote on his Twitter feed Tuesday, "but I stand in 100% solidarity with my brothers & sisters to practice their belief against govt pressure." A survey released this week by the Public Religion Research Institute showed Catholics were evenly divided over the issue of government mandated contraception insurance for Catholic institutions. The White House touted the survey to reporters to show there was support for the measure among Catholics. The same survey showed that white evangelicals are the religious group who voice the greatest opposition to the new policy from the Department of Health and Human Services. "We do see white evangelicals pretty much right in line with the bishops on this one, while Catholics are actually more divided," said Daniel Cox, the director of research at the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan research group. "White evangelicals are strongly in support of having these religiously affiliated institutions being exempted," Cox said. Most evangelical and conservative Christians from Protestant backgrounds do not oppose the use of contraceptives, as official Catholic teaching does. The issue for these groups is what they see as a threat to religious liberty. Samuel "Dub" Oliver, the president of East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, Texas, said in an interview Thursday that he was willing and ready to go to jail rather than comply with the policy because he said it would violate his school's religious liberty. "In the long history of Baptist leaders, we feel strongly about religious liberty," he said. "Many have gone to jail and many have died defending religious liberty for all." While his university's health center provides oral contraceptives, or the birth control pill, it does not provide emergency contraceptives. "We specifically exclude those, because according to our conscience, that's an abortifacient that we don't want to provide under our (insurance) plan," he said. Many abortion opponents have argued that emergency contraceptives like "the morning after pill" acts to be an abortifacient, a medicine that can induce abortions. Emergency contraceptives are a stronger dose of birth control and health providers make a distinction between them and the abortion pill RU-486. "The deeper idea for us is the idea of religious liberty and government has crossed a boundary to require them to do something that violates their conscience," Oliver said. Warren, who delivered the invocation at President Obama's inauguration, tweeted this week that he, too, would go to jail over the issue . Warren has a large national following. The pastor of Saddleback Church in Southern California is also one of the best-selling authors of his generation with his book "The Purpose Driven Life." "I'd go to jail rather than cave in to a government mandate that violates what God commands us to do," Warren tweeted this week. "Would you? Acts 5:29." Warren was referencing the New Testament's Books of Acts, in which Jesus' apostles had been jailed for preaching in the Jewish temple and were brought before the religious leaders of the day. The apostles responded to the charges, "We must obey God rather than men." One of the first legal challenges to the new Obama policy came from Colorado Christian University, a nondenominational university near Denver. In December, it filed a lawsuit with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty challenging the HHS regulation as a violation of the school's First Amendment rights. The Becket Fund, a conservative religious legal organization, represented another college and the Catholic television channel EWTN in separate lawsuits against the policy. Shapri LoMaglio, who heads government relations for the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, which represents Colorado Christian and 114 other evangelical Christian schools in the United States, said the council's member schools actively lobbied members of Congress against the policy since its formal announcement last month. "Our schools are very concerned. They see this as an infringement of religious liberties," LoMaglio said. The Family Research Council, an evangelical group in Washington, also came out in full force against the policy. Calling the policy an "oppressive mandate" it pulled together members of Congress and those affected by the policy for a town hall-style webcast on Thursday evening. The evangelical disdain for the policy may have a limited impact on the presidential election, said Cox, the pollster. "This isn't a group likely to support Obama in the general election," he said. "The political implications are more for Catholics, in particular white Catholics. That is a group fairly evenly divided when it comes to this. When it comes to white evangelicals, three out of four are likely to vote for the eventual Republican nominee."

Published: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:18:22 GMT

Bernanke: Housing problems blocking recovery

Lingering problems in the housing market continue to restrain America's economic recovery and limit the effectiveness of Federal Reserve policies, Ben Bernanke said Friday. "The economic recovery has been disappointing in part because U.S. housing markets remain out of balance," the Fed chairman said in prepared remarks at the International Builders' Show in Orlando, Fla. Federal Reserve policies meant to drive down long-term interest rates have had "less effect... than they otherwise would have had," he said, as even creditworthy households find it difficult to obtain mortgages or refinancing. Bernanke cited statistics that show home prices are down 40% nationally from their peak, after adjusting for inflation. He estimates the decline in home prices has resulted in more than $7 trillion in lost household wealth. "It appears the recent declines in housing wealth may be reducing consumer spending between $200 billion and $375 billion per year," he said. "That reduction corresponds to lower living standards for many Americans." Bernanke suggested a plan that would turn foreclosed properties into rentals could help unload some of the excess housing in some markets -- a repeat of a policy he also examined in a white paper last month. "With home prices falling and rents rising, it could make sense in some markets to turn some of the foreclosed homes into rental properties," he said. But it's not a "silver bullet," he added. The speech comes a day after five of the nation's largest banks struck a deal with 49 states to settle charges of abusive and negligent foreclosure practices dating back to 2008. Under that deal, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and privately held Ally Financial will commit $26 billion to help underwater homeowners and compensate those who lost their homes due to improper foreclosure practices.

Published: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:02:32 GMT

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